Various methods exist in the art for the production of silicon nanoparticles. Most methods are directed to production of silicon nanoparticles having a wide size distribution, In addition, many prior methods, e.g., laser ablation of silicon material, make recovery of silicon nanoparticles for ex-situ. uses difficult. There also exist in the art methods, such as chemical vapor deposition or Si ion implantation, for producing size distributions of silicon nanoparticles, sometimes with small quantities of 1 nm particles, but typically having particles tending toward a 10 nm size and greater. Laser ablation, pyrolosis of gas, and electron beam deposition are example processes that have been used in the art to produce silicon nanoparticles, but these processes generally produce small quantities of particles, and in forms that are not readily accessed for subsequent processes.
The state of the art was advanced by methods for the controlled production of silicon nanoparticles that also permitted their recovery and ex-situ use. Silicon nanoparticles of ˜1 nm diameter have been produced in quantity with high uniformity of the specific 1 nm size. Such methods include, e.g., Nayfeh et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,585,947, entitled METHOD FOR PRODUCING SILICON NANOPARTICLES; and Nayfeh et al. U.S. Published Patent Application, publication number 20020070121, published on Jul. 13, 2002 and entitled FAMILY OF DISCRETELY SIZED NANOPARTICLES AND METHOD FOR PRODUCING THE SAME (both of which are incorporated herein by reference). See also, e.g., Akcakir et al, “Detection of luminescent single ultrasmall silicon nanoparticles using fluctuation correlation spectroscopy”, Appl. Phys. Lett. 76 (14), p. 1857 (Apr. 3, 2000) (incorporated herein by reference). The family includes 1 (blue emitting), 1.67 (green emitting), 2.15 (yellow emitting), 2.9 (red emitting) and 3.7 nm (infrared emitting). See, also, e.g., G. Belomoin et at “Observation of a magic discrete family of ultrabright Si nanoparticles,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 80(5), p 841 (Feb. 4, 2002) (incorporated herein by reference).